[Closed] Favourite kettlebell exercise

kettlebell snatches are always fun, but I'm going off the plain old kettlebell swings. When i get tired, I lose forma nd start using my back instead of my hips to lift them.

I like:

Goblet squats
Military press
Deadlifts
Goat bag swings (full swings can be risky in your front room)
Farmers walk

The main one to master is the swing as it teaches explosive hip drive via the Glutes. Doing sets of these is a really good work out.

The next one to master is probably the Turkish Get Up as done properly it's a really good test of over all strength / control eg try it with half a glass of water and the aim is not to spill a drop.

Farmers walk with 1/2 BW in each hand for 50m is good target.

I'm having to adapt at the mo,went due to a broken ankle which I can't put weight upon. If anyone has any suggestions for seated KB exercises ( or lay down ) let me know please.

Get-ups are annoyingly complicated, swings are boring after 70 or 80... The farmer's walk could be interesting but I'd need 50m of space and two 45kg weights 🙂

EDIT: Hmm.. two 25l water containers filled with wet sand would be cheap.. and I live on a hill...

but I'd need 50m of space

You have a garden? Or use the pavement etc

A walk with 1/2BW in each hand is one of Dan John's basic tests:
http://danjohn.net/2013/04/strength-standards-sleepless-in-seattle/

Strength standards for what? I can do some of those, others not close.

Strength standards for what?

Dan John was / is a coach at a school in Utah, so these are what he expects of his students who make the athletics team for inter state comps. So way above what the average slob would achieve, but nothing special for a 16 yr old athlete. I find his stuff very useful, a pragmatic look at strength with zero BS.

swings are boring after 70 or 80

I don't do KB very often, but I have done this routine when I need a quick session:
1 leg deadlift
High pull to squat
Threaded lunge
Travelling swings forward
Travelling swings back
Travelling swings side stepping
1 arm swing

I do 3 sets on each exercise, reps anywhere between 8 and 16 depending on what weight I have available. Sometimes I do supersets, other times I have 30s rest between each set.

Strength standards for what? I can do some of those, others not close.

I’ve always worked on a rough guide of 1x bw bench press, 1.5x bw squat and 2x bw deadlift being a reasonable standard of strength for a regular gym goer. No idea where I got this from, but it seems reasonable enough.

Heavy kettlebells are sodding expensive, that's the problem. I was doing 80 in one go a few years ago with 24kg, can probably do 30-40 in one go now. Problem is that they don't feel like a satisfying workout, just uncomfortable. I don't do them to exhaustion. The floor-to-shelf though is the opposite - feels really satisfying and I do them to exhaustion.

When you say circuit, do you mean one set of each in succession? With a break?

Loads of different ways to do circuits, follow a few online ones and see what works for you.
Download an app called HIIT interval training timer so you don't need to think about watching the clock.

One of my favourite circuits is 10 exercises (some KB, some bodyweight), 30s work 30s rest. Have a couple of minutes break then repeat.

Another is pick 3 or 4 exercises, do them one after another with no rest. 1 min rest and repeat a few times. Mix the exercises up, maybe make 3 different circuits for each session.

Tabata (20s work, 10s rest x8) is also good for KB

Heavy kettlebells are sodding expensive, that's the problem.

Non competition ones are a lot cheaper. The standard "Rx" weight for a male is 24 kg. I think they go up to only 32kg at our Cross Fit Box.

My gym has plates with holes in them so 20kg + 20kg swing is possible.

clean and press
jerk
bottoms up press (great for grip strength/ arm pump)

Can anyone provide me with a link for a complete beginner. Never done kettlebells before, but would like to start as I need to do some more core work, but really want to get the technique right, as I know that this is an important aspect to work on first.

The internet is full of bad advice, but if there is a good YouTube page, where I can watch someone and copy their technique, then I guess that would be a good place to start.

cheers

Google\youtube Steve Cotter, old but effective.

Rather than having an eye on the number of reps roll some dice set the timer and then Swing for the duration - brutal, especially at the end of a session.

Perfect. Thanks bitterlemon, that's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

Strong first is a great kettlebell resource.

Pavel's kettlebell book is very good. Drop me and email and i can send you some PDFs

Andy

Pavel's kettlebell book is very good

A lot of macho 'hardman' BS in his books.

This is much better, zero BS.

[img] [/img]

Ultimately you really want someone competent to give you some pointers on it all as the trick is moving in the right plane / using the right muscles for each exercise which is very hard to teach via a book / youtube etc.

Not kettlebell related but because people are asking about strength standards:

[url= http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html ]Weightlifting Performance Standards[/url]

[i]"Tables for the basic barbell exercises are based on nearly 70 years of accumulated performance data and are not predicted or regression derived. These performance standards should not to be confused with strength norms."[/i]

I love the KB strict press as it's just so bloody effective.

Also, Swings are ace for teaching trained and untrained lifters how to engage their glutes properly which a surprising number of trained lifters struggle with.

A lot of macho 'hardman' BS in his books.

There is a little of that in his very early stuff which still contains amazing and very helpful information.

I though Enter the Kettlebell was rubbish personally....

Much better books out there, which reminds me I must sell my copy on Ebay....